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Henry Clay Lovell House Site

The Henry Clay Lovell house at the ML Ranch. The house was destroyed by fire in the 1930's.

Courtesy of Mrs. Frances Burrell

Mr. Lovell rarely slept in this well furnished home, reserving it for his housekeeper and cook Lettie Ruble. It was a large one and a half story structure standing amidst a grove of cottonwoods.The house was built with lumber hauled to the site by wagon from Billings and Bridger.

Floor Plan
During an interview in the summer of 1973, Mrs. Lee Hoffman who had been a cook at the ML Ranch, gave a telling description of the Lovell house floor plan. The front doorway to the house was in its east elevation. Opening the front door, one entered the house through a central hall. To the right (north) there was a doorway opening off the hall into an office, and to the left (south) one opening into the living room.

There was a set of double doors in the living room, opening into the dining room. A second doorway led from the dining room into the central hall, and a third into the kitchen. The kitchen was in an ell, and could be also entered through a doorway in its north elevation.

At the west end of the kitchen was a flight of steps descending into the basement. On the north side of the central hall, in addition to the office, were two bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom was between the bedrooms. A stairway led upstairs, where there were more bedrooms.

Frontier Elegance
Mrs. M.A. Jolly who had visited the ranch on occasion recalled years later a visit to the house while Henry’s son Willard and his wife Isabel still occupied it. She distinctly remembered that the house had elegant furnishings, with carpeted stairways plus the first indoor bathroom she had ever seen.

Unfortunately the house, which was at one time lit by carbide lamps, was destroyed by fire in the 1930’s. This rather large home was a centerpiece of the ML ranch. It symbolized the success Henry Lovell had attained with his ranching outfit.